February 15, 2021
More than experiencing the joys of pregnancy, women today flush themselves with a reservoir of guilt and paradox. If gaining weight during pregnancy is a norm, losing weight early after delivery is invidious. The sprawling eyes of ubiquitous mother-in-law, chachi’s and massi’s examining the prodigal baby bump is more substantiating than the highly equipped gynaecologist. If it lies low – it’s a BOY. If it saunters upward – it’s a GIRL. They will leave no stone unturned in diagnosing you with Anorexia Nervosa if chapatti and dal are not smeared with the indigenous desi ghee.
To add more fuel to the fire are the Kareenas’ and Anushkas’, who blatantly post their pregnancy indulgences making the less privileged lot to find a sheltering carapace to hide their imperfections. Not everybody can strike a yoga pose when everyday’s fatigue takes on your bones or eat a meal made to perfection to check the nutrition parameter!! Watching the celebrities could be an impetus, but enfeebles the mind to achieve the extraordinary. You don’t have to be labelled conservative if you follow the old age traditions of the womb journey – eccentricities are best laid down to rest for they are a shift from the atavistic. You can still eat the normal dal-veg and uplift your body with a 20min walk to maintain a healthy pregnancy.
Working women echo the not so friendly pregnancy environment in the offices, schools and other institutions. To their consternation, they live in the fear of being fired and dispelled from the organization due to less effective performance. We see them toiling harder to settle at par with their non-pregnant peers, but to utter dismay, it leaves them more vulnerable. The government should optimize flexible working hours during pregnancy and appraisals should be kept off-bay.
A woman is a creator and sustainer of a tiny seed that blossoms into a well-structured human galloping to tear apart the flesh that so holds him/her for nine months. Comparisons make her guilt ridden with a foreboding of being infallible. Let her draw her own individuality without pumping in the pressure of being a big round pumpkin- a small turnip will also do if the baby is healthy. Stop watching the top echelons of the society giving unrealistic pregnancy goals as it is out of the reach of the majority and work to work and not for competition.